Getting Me Back to the Faith

Ojo, a while back you asked why believers would try to get you to return to the faith. I think this quote from Charles Spurgeon encapsulates the feelings of many of us. It does come from a good place znd [sic] not from a place of judgement or condemnation or even a feeling of spiritual superiority. God bless you my good friend!

The Via Dolorosa and Way of the Rose

I embedded a riddle into the song Way of the Rose, on the Undercover album Balance of Power (1990). To those who care, this is old news (it went around on Usenet here and here). But I do still get questions about it and recently two people have asked and since have solved it on their own. There are other aspects of the lyric folks have asked about too.

Drive-By Blessings

I don’t know if this was some kind of collusion or something, but in the last week or so I have had a larger-than-usual number of posts to my Facebook wall that seem to have a common theme – a note with some aspect of positive intentions but qualified by a religious statement or affirmation of one kind or another:

Five Things I’m Grateful For

I never play well with these viral Facebook things, but when my daughter tags me and when it’s about gratitude, well, I simply must relent. It comes at a fertile time too,

Six Things I Learned While Hiking Waterfalls

Dark Hollow Falls

Having just returned to Virginia from Phoenix, and perhaps because I was missing the Pacific ocean this summer, I found myself pining for water. With nothing pressing on my schedule I decided to spend the weekend hiking some of the waterfall trails in the Shenandoah National Park.  

Warned For The Last Time

I have been warned for the last time, apparently…

(At Least) Seven Ways God Had Around Hell

I’ve often said that the idea of hell was the lynchpin that once removed, led to the final undoing of what had been a slowly and steadily eroding faith, one that truly had died a thousand deaths. Having been intelligently challenged on hell over a two-day discussion was only the last straw. 

I Am Your Father, IV – Our House

This has been a good old house.  My family moved in when I was 14 and my father still lives here.  Every once in a while he talks about downsizing and moving to a smaller, more manageable place.  He never will. 

I Am Your Father, III – Your Attention, Please.

I often feel that apparently unrelated events in my life seem to converge around certain points in time around specific themes.  I don’t think there’s anything supernatural about that. I think we

From Certainty to Uncertainty

I’ve often said that I cringe at some of our earliest lyrics, even if I still enjoy the youthful and musical exuberance in the songs.   It’s pretty easy to grant myself some grace in growing up. When I was a child I spoke as a child, after all.  I can put those early works in perspective.  Here’s one such lyric: